State lawmaker wants special session to pass bonding legislation

A State Representative who sponsored a bonding proposal to construct buildings and make other capital improvements on college and university campuses hopes Governor Jay Nixon calls a special session of the General Assembly to get the legislation passed.

During the recently-concluded session of the Legislature, Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) was the driving force behind HJR 32 . The legislation passed the Missouri House but failed in the Senate. Kelly views a letter sent by Governor Nixon to lawmakers, on Wednesday, as an indication there is a desire to take another stab at this legislation – and soon.

"If you notice his one theme that he kept coming back to is how important the timing is on this," said Kelly in an interview with the Missourinet. "He returned to that three or four times and I agree with him – the timing is critical. That’s why I thought it was so important to pass it during the session. But that’s water under the bridge or over the dam or wherever water goes."

As far as Kelly is concerned, there is no doubt the Governor is at least considering calling a special session.

"The Governor’s concerned rightly about the ten percent unemployment," said Kelly. "And the bond issue can put lots of people to work faster than anything else. And I think what that means is that he ought to just pull the trigger."

Kelly sees now as an opportune time for bonding because payments on the current capital projects bond package, approved in 1982, are expiring. He believes the bond package would make up for the failure of the Lewis and Clark Initiative to pay for college capital improvements.